Up to 3million tumble dryers in UK homes still a fire risk

Tumble dryers known to be a fire risk could be sitting in three million british homes, it was claimed yesterday.

The warning came as MPS condemned maker Whirlpool for a ‘cynical’ failure to protect customers.

A Parliamentary debate heard claims that lives are being put at risk by machines sold under the Whirlpool brands – Hotpoint, Indesit, Creda, Swan and Proline.

The US company issued a safety alert in November 2015, admitting millions of machines sold between 2004 and 2015 were a fire risk, apparently due to excess fluff coming into contact with the heating element.

Initially, the company said customers could continue to use them under supervision until engineers visited to carry out a fix. However, in February it told people to stop using the dryers after further fires and pressure from consumer group Which?

more than 700 families, some with no insurance, have lost possessions or been driven out of their homes by blazes caused by the machines. MPS accused the firm of trying to delay legal action, and even inquests, to put off paying substantial compensation.

last August, a blaze caused by one of the firm’s dryers engulfed part an 18-storey high rise block in Shepherds bush, West london.

labour MP Andy Slaughter said a number of residents are still in temporary accommodation. He told MPS that Whirlpool should order a full recall of the machines and pay compensation.

‘Anything less is hugely irresponsible,’ he said. MPS said trading standards officers and the Government had failed to ensure Whirlpool acted to keep consumers safe.

mr Slaughter said: ‘I believe Whirlpool are cynically trying to delay everything from legal actions on liability through to inquests in order to resist what will undoubtedly be substantial payments.’

Owners have had to wait months for a home visit from engineers to modify the dryers. mr Slaughter said he believes as many as three million are yet to be fixed, although the company insists it is a smaller number.

Whirlpool says 5million were sold and claims to have modified more than 1.5million. On that basis, up to 3.5million might still be in homes.

However, Whirlpool says some of these are likely to have been replaced before the 2015 alert. It estimates 3.8million are still in use, leaving more than 2million to be traced and modified. It said: ‘Safety is always our number one priority. We have gone to extraordinary lengths to trace owners of the affected products and rectify the issue.

‘From the outset, we... have co-operated with both Trading Standards and the Government. Trading Standards has confirmed, following an internal review by independent experts, that we have acted responsibly and that the modification programme remains the most effective way of resolving this issue.’

‘Should order a full recall’